The Coalition conducts public workshops and forums around the state, involving the public, public officials, and the media in discussing government accessibility as provided in the various statutes that assure such access and accountability from our public agencies.
New Revamped Web Site!
The Washington Coalition for Open Government will be launching a newly designed website March 1, 2010! We are happy and excited for this revamped website as it will make navigation easier to use and search for content easier to find.
Sunshine Week 2010 – Friday, March 19, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
KCTS Studios
401 Mercer Street, Seattle, WA 98109
Broadcast from from Center for American Progress Washington, D.C.
Local Panel
Rob McKenna - Washington State Attorney General
Brian Sonntag - Washington State Auditor
Sam Reed - Washington Secretary of State
Meredith Mechling - Monroe community activist and WCOG Key Award Winner
Ed Clark - Redmond CPA and WCOG Key Award Winner
Enrique Cerna - Moderator and Host of KCTS 9 Connects
Public input? Who cares?
HeraldNet: March 5, 2010
“The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.”
That declaration is repeated more than once in Washington’s public disclosure and open meetings laws.
Lawmakers make lame attempt to honor slain officers that will hurt citizen access to public information
The Seattle Times: March 5, 2010
There is a political ebb and flow that gives rise to politicians and issues. This short session, which is scheduled to end this week, has been dominated by a budget collapsing under the weight of a $2.6 billion shortfall.
The economic crisis has not been bad for everybody in Olympia. Legislators and lobbyists have used it as cover to push bad legislation on Washingtonians.
Privace bill's misguided symbolism
The Seattle Times: March 3, 2010
HOUSE Majority Leader Lynn Kessler freely admits that a bill aimed at protecting the privacy of law enforcement actually would not do much of anything.
The proposed law would exempt personal information on law-enforcement employees from the Public Disclosure Act. But state law already protects public employees' home addresses, home phone numbers and Social Security numbers from disclosure.
Sammamish Forum March 3, Reject Issaquah math curriculum
Sammamish Review: March 3, 2010
According to Memorandum No. 028-09M K-12 Education (for information purposes) sent to state math leaders, school principals and school district superintendents on May 4, 2009 from Randy Dorn, state Superintendent of Public Instruction, regarding high school mathematics core/comprehensive instruction materials final recommendations: “Superintendent Dorn’s final high school recommendations are based on both the work of the OSPI and the SBE as directed by statute. The final recommendation for high school is: Holt Mathematics.”
The Ghost Bill: Oly Lawmakers Push Tax Break Reform With a Blank Law
Seattle Weekly: March 1, 2010
The state legislature's latest moves towards eliminating some of the fat-cat tax breaks highlighted in a recent Seattle Weekly cover story are encouraging to see - but what, exactly, is it we see?
Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Bainbridge Island, recently introduced a title-only reform bill (without any text detailing the law being proposed) followed by a 35-second staff briefing to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, a 65-second public hearing, and a 22-second vote to approve the blank bill so text can be added perhaps without further public input.
Police privacy bill based on rumors
The News Tribune: February 26, 2010
A rumor making the rounds in the Legislature holds that the Lakewood Police Department was “barraged” with public records requests seeking Social Security numbers of the children of four slain police officers.
There’s no truth to it, but it’s still being used to justify restrictions on public disclosure.
Monroe finally releases e-mails on ethics panel discussions in 2005
HeraldNet: February 13, 2010
Meredith Mechling didn’t think it would take five years and a lawsuit to get a dozen e-mails from the city.
But it did.
Earlier this week, Mechling finally received those long-sought e-mails, originally sent among city officials in March 2005.
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